WINNSBORO – Taxpayer money, not previously mentioned by the Fairfield County School District Foundation, will help subsidize a ‘teacher village,’ a proposed residential development intended to attract and retain teachers in the District, should the plan move forward.
Under questioning by Council members, Foundation and District officials also confirmed that they do not yet have a contract, executed or proposed, with the village investor. That did not sit well with some Council members who are being asked to approve a multi-county park agreement as well as a seven-year tax refund benefiting the investor.
In multiple public and private pitches, Superintendent Dr. J. R. Green and Fairfield School District Education Foundation Chairman Sue Rex have said first priority for the housing would go to teachers, who would pay between $600 – $900 a month to rent the homes, which are between 1,200 and 1,600 square feet.
District office staff, followed by first responders, could also be allowed to live in the community. After that, others in the community could be accepted as renters.
During County Council questioning on Monday night, however, it was learned that actual rental fees would range from $900 – $1,300, not $600 – $900 a month.
“I’m interested in how you plan to rent these houses for no more than $600 to $900 a month. It seems low for what the tenants would be getting based on the square footage,” Councilman Jimmy Ray Douglas said.
“How will the houses be rented for rates this low?” Douglas asked. “Is it possible the school district will be subsidizing the rental fees?”
Green answered in the affirmative. He said a proviso in the state budget includes funds that school districts can use to recruit teachers. The district would have the ability, Green said, to subsidize each home up to $300 per month, for a total of $108,000 of District subsidies each year.
“We plan to utilize our funding to help reduce the rental rates,” Green said. “We will be supplementing those rates with that retention and recruitment funding. They are looking for a school district to do some innovative things with those funds.”
State lawmakers inserted the proviso that Green referenced into the 2016 state budget, with funding going to the S.C. Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement, or CERRA, legislative records show.
CERRA received $1.5 million in 2016. Since then, the appropriation has zoomed to $9.5 million in 2017 and 2018, according to CERRA’s 2017-2018 annual report.
Per the proviso, CERRA’s job is to help districts with teacher turnover of 11 percent or more over the past 5 years to boost teacher recruitment and retention. Fairfield County is among those districts.
In 2017-2018, CERRA spent $12.97 million on its teacher recruitment program, accounting for a majority of its $18.95 million in total expenditures, its annual report states. Fairfield County School District received the third highest allotment, totaling close to $738,000, of all districts drawing from the fund.
Council Chairman Billy Smith asked Green if the proviso money is permanent or if it might not be continued in the future, citing the State Legislature’s budgeting discretion. Green suggested the proviso could be built into the state budget after, perhaps, three or four years, but that is no guarantee.
Council member response to the teacher village varied during Monday night’s meeting.
Councilman Douglas Pauley asked several questions, including whether teachers living elsewhere in the county would receive the $300 rent subsidy as well. Green said they would not.
Pauley also asked about whether the district has looked at other builders or financiers.
Green said they had not. He also said Gorelick is willing to cover the $3.6 million in construction costs, and had the ability to choose the builder on their own.
Green went on to repeat a district talking point that, in addition to recruiting teachers, the village would spur economic development.
Green said Fairfield was the first District to be implementing this kind of teacher housing project and he wanted to have it ready to go by the start of the 2019 school year. He said other districts are beginning to look into doing something similar.
While council members generally praised the District for thinking creatively about ways to recruit and retain teachers, Smith stated that Council would need more documentation and specifics about the project before taking any votes.
As proposed, the Fairfield County “teacher village” would be built on 11 acres of land the district owns behind the district office off U.S. 321 Bypass in Winnsboro. There are tentative plans for a second phase on the other 11 acres.
Rex, the foundation’s director, emphasized that the multi-county business park must be approved by the County to move the project forward.
“We want to put together a template that works so beautifully that the school district, foundation, the county council, the private investors can work together to put this project into place and make it successful,” Rex said.
Before moving forward, the district also must seek approval from the Town of Winnsboro to rezone the teacher village property, a process that could take up to six weeks.
Councilman Dan Ruff said he’s encouraged by the teacher village’s possibilities.
“I want to commend you and the foundation for your creative thinking in this process,” Ruff said. “I think it is fantastic and I hope it works out.”
